and glory; and, to adopt the words of an animated writer, “When the very name of Voltaire, and even the memory of the language in which he has written, fhall be no more, the Apalachian mountains, the banks of the Ohio, and the plains of Sciota, fhall refound with the accents of this barbarian."

Ben Jonfon has been accufed of giving a fcanty and reluctant tribute of applause to his great rival; but there is in his eulogium one line, one prophetic line, which fhows that he perfectly understood, and freely acknowledged, his tranfcendent merit :

"He was not for an age, but for all time.”

And without queftion he is entitled to a place in the highest rank of that illuftrious band"Whofe honours with encreafing ages grow, As ftreams roll down enlarging as they flow; Nations unborn his mighty name shall sound, And worlds applaud that must not yet be found.

ESSAY

III.

On the Reign and Character of QUEEN ELIZABETH.

T has lately been much the fashion to speak in

very difparaging terms of the perfon and government of Queen Elizabeth.-This celebrated princess, during a reign of almost half a century, and for a period of a century and half succeeding her death, was the object of universal reverence and admiration; and to this very day her name, to the bulk of the people, carries a kind of magic in the found; they confider her reign as a kind of golden age, as the halcyon days of perpetual profperity and felicity; but feveral perfons, eminent for the profundity of their historical researches, have discovered, to the great amazement of those who owe their knowledge to common report and information, that the difpofition of that princess was arbitrary and imperious, that the maxims of her government were odious and tyrannical, that her authority was defpotic, and that the political conftitution of this country in her days bore à remarkable refemblance to that of Turkey at prefent. This, and much more, has Mr. Hume in particular afferted, in a very high and peremptory tone; and, as a neceffary consequence of these affertions,

D

affertions, he has taken much pains to exculpate the two first princes of the house of Stuart, from the various accufations that have been brought against them, of introducing arbitrary and unconstitutional, principles of government into their adminiftration. According to the reprefentation of that eloquent hiftorian, thofe monarchs have been treated, both during their lives and fince their deaths, with the highest ingratitude and injuftice; and if this reprefentation is juft, England muft pafs for the most whimsical and capricious of all nations; for, without any reasonable or affignable cause, Queen Elizabeth has ever been, and still is, the object of the highest admiration and applause, whilst the unfortunate James and Charles are regarded, the one with contempt, the other with deteftation.But this account cannot give entire fatisfaction to those who believe human nature to be constituted on certain fixed and immutable principles, and who are confequently inclined to believe, that oppofite effects cannot well proceed from fimilar caufes in fimilar circumstances.

Certainly Mr. Hume has no reason to expect that we should entertain a very high idea of that philofophy which cannot account for moral appearances upon moral principles, or which fatisfies itself with a vague or general folution, without attempting to trace the connection between the fuppofed caufes and their refpective effects.If any one fhould afk how is it poffible to account for the fudden diffufion of chriftianity in the world,

what

what can be eafier than to reply, that it can be accounted for only by the credulity of mankind. So if any inquifitive perfon fhould defire to be informed of the cause of the oppofite impreffions, which feem indelibly fixed on the minds of the public, refpecting the characters and conduct of thefe fucceffive Sovereigns, the answer is equally ready, it is whim, caprice, and fafhion. As I have, from my earliest recollection, been accustomed to hold the name and memory of Elizabeth in the utmost efteem and veneration, I cannot now adopt other sentiments, without feeling a reluctance, which, that it may not appear altogether the effect of prejudice, I fhall attempt in fome degree to account for, and justify, by a general review of the leading features of her political character and adminiftration, contrasted with thofe of her fucceffors of the house of Stuart.

During the civil contests which fo long prevailed between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, the regal authority, irregular as the exertions of it fometimes appear, was fubjected to a variety of important and falutary reftraints. As the one or the other party prevailed, popular laws were enacted, in order to acquire and preferve the good will of the nation, which the oppofite faction, when in power, could not venture to repeal; and in the reign of Edward IV Lord Fortefcue was able to demonstrate, in striking colours, the fuperiority of the English conftitution and government, compared

with thofe of the furrounding nations ; which indeed was fufficiently manifeft from the reign of our English Juftinian, Edward I. In the short period that Richard III. held the fceptre, many excellent political regulations were made. And when the battle of Bofworth placed Henry VII. upon the throne, he endeavoured, at least for fome years, to recommend himself to the nation, who, were in general much attached to the house of York, by fimilar means; though it must be confeffed that, upon the whole, the authority of the monarch was during this reign confiderably augmented, the difcretionary jurifdiction of the Court of Star Chamber being much enlarged, and the power of the aristocracy in a great measure broken; and towards the latter end of the reign of his fucceffor, by a remarkable concurrence of causes, the royal prerogative had established itself, to appearance, above all control; but in proportion as those adventitious circumstances

"Non poteft rex Angliæ ad libitum fuum leges mutare regni fui. Principatu namque nodum regali, fed et politico ipfe fuo populo dominatur. Si regali tantum præeffet eis, leges regni fui mutare ille poffet; tallagia quoque et cætera onera eis imponere, ipfis inconfultis; quale dominium denotant leges civiles cum dicant, "Quod principi placuit legis habet vigoSed longè aliter poteft lex politicè imperans genti fuæ, quia nec leges ipfe fine fubditorum affenfu mutare poterit, nec fubjectum populum retinentem onerare impofitionibus peregrinis: quare populus ejus liberè fruetur bonis fuis: legibus quas cupit regulatus, nec per regem aut quemvis alium depilatur." FORTESCUE, DE LEG. ANG.

rem."

which